Take Me Home Tonight
by SaxonShieldmaiden
Summary: Wandering around the south in between school years, Jasper never intended to be a hero, but when he came across a vampire savagely attacking a teenage girl in an alley, her mother dead nearby, a hero he became. Taking the girl home he discovered sometimes fate has a sense of humor, because Bella Swan is not only unlike any newborn in history, and HIS, but has a connection to Forks.
1. Chapter 1

Bella didn't know when everything had gone so _wrong. _She tried to figure out when as the inferno coursed through her body. She groaned, haunted by the sight of her mother's dead eyes, the last thing she had seen before the horrible burning.

It had probably started after Renee's last boyfriend had cut off contact. Bella had like Phil as much as she liked any of them. He had seemed to actually like the flighty Renee Dwyer, and he had been kind - until he stopped answering her calls.

James had been the next boyfriend. He was attractive, Bella would give him that, but there was something about him that made her slightly uncomfortable. Still, she had pushed it down and smiled, tolerating him because Renee crying into ice cream over Phil had made Bella's heart hurt. James seemed to dazzle her, and so Bella kept her mouth shut.

Now, three months later, she wished she had done something. He had pretended there was something wrong with the car, asked them to step out for a minute, into one of a dozen side alleys, and then before she could even register he had moved, her mother was hanging limp from his arms.

"Mom!" She shrieked as James threw her mother aside like a broken doll, and turned on her, blood dripping from his teeth.

"Don't scream, Bella." James crooned. "This is all because of _you_. You have no idea how you smell. I had to go through her to get to you." His eyes looked strange again, like they were sometimes, looking red instead of brown.

Bella had taken a step back, wishing that she had something to defend herself from the monster "Get...get away." She managed, trying to duck under his arm. He pushed her back against the tan brick of the wall behind her., as she tried to throw her elbows to do something. "Get off of me!"

"I don't think so, Bella." James replied. "It's been a fun hunt for a few months, but the game is over now." He leaned down and his teeth went into her shoulder, and the ungodly burning started, her vision started to go strange at the corners. "No!" She said, fighting as hard as she could. "Let go of me you bastard!"

The burning grew worse, and just before her vision went back, someone else appeared. He was blurry, all she could make out was gold, and hope managed to curl in her chest. "Help…" She managed to rasp.

Her golden saviour seemed to growl, ripping James away and as she slid to the ground, unable to make her burning limbs hold her up, she watched as he tore the man apart. The urge to give in to the darkness and the burning was strong, but her last thought, before the fire consumed her, was a feeling of safety.

* * *

Jasper Whitlock hadn't intended on being a white knight when he had started walking through Sedona. If anything, he had been testing himself, trying to prove to himself yet again that he was strong enough for the vegetarian vampire lifestyle. It wasn't ideal, but he needed a break from his 'family.' He cared about them all, he did. He would always be grateful to Alice for finding him, telling him that there was another way. However, he could only handle being the seventh wheel for so long. He had decided that before he started his next senior year, he would take the summer and travel. At first Carlisle had objected, before Alice, in that cryptic way she had, had declared that he should do it.

His first stop was a long overdue visit to see Peter and Charlotte, but after that, he had simply wandered, like he had for so many years. He had stayed in the south, enjoying the heat and the familiarity, for all the darker memories it brought. Which was how he found himself hearing someone calling for help.

It had twisted something inside him, and he wondered how horrible it would be if he fell off the wagon to save someone. He had approached, and then realised quite quickly what was happening. The scene was a familiar one that made rage bubble in his veins. He couldn't help the drained woman, but even injected with venom the girl was fighting, and without knowing why, he had ended the other vampire, with the speed and precision that made him feared. The bastard didn't know what hit him.

He was considering ending the girl, killing her so that she didn't have to suffer this life, but then he realized why he had done it. When she had caught sight of him, the girl hadn't felt fear - she felt hope. When he ended the other vampire, the feeling that had hit him was a potent mixture of gratitude and safety.

No one had ever felt safe with him. Even the Cullens winced at the sight of his scars. Something powerfully strong and possessive grasped hold of him then, and he swung the girl into his arms like a bride, and ran back to Texas, to a little cabin he had kept purely for himself. He placed the whimpering girl in the grasp of the change, onto his rarely used bed, and took up a position at her side, trying to dampen the pain a bit.

Close to the end of the summer, he'd call Carlisle and tell him to make excuses. It would take time to train up a newborn, and Jasper didn't want him to try and talk him out of it. For some strange reason, the feeling of abandoning the girl who had felt safe with him was unconscionable. If he had a few months training under his belt before he told anyone, he'd show he could do it. Of course he could, he had more experience with newborn vampires than anyone.

It would be fine. Totally fine.


	2. Chapter 2

While Jasper had a lot of experience training newborns, he had less experience watching the change. Maria had always held that newborns needed the pain to fuel their strength. The recruits would usually be placed in barns or shacks, alone, to suffer the change. While they would be checked on, no-one stayed with them. This time, he would be better.

He sat beside the girl, dampening as much of the pain as he could. While he was rusty, and unsure how much she could understand, he talked to her, trying to do something to help, even if it was assurance that she wasn't alone. He didn't know her name. The other vampire had called her Bella, but he had no idea whether that was her name or a kind of twisted nickname.

So, he talked. He talked about little things, about his visit to Peter and Charlotte, about his need for some time away, about his struggles on animal blood, and why Arizona had been a damn stupid place to change someone with the fact that smaller vampire wars, more like skirmishes were still happening. He talked about high school, about what it was like doing it repeatedly, he told her about the Cullens, he even talked about the difficulties of being an empath, and what it was like when he couldn't differentiate what he was feeling from the others. Really he talked himself stupid, hoping that it would help. He only left her side to hunt, and then return, listening to her heartbeat slow and stutter.

It was on the third day, as he waited for her to come out of it, he wondered if he had made the right choice, Maybe he should have taken her to Carlisle. He knew how his scars instinctually frightened other vampires, a defense mechanism he had taken advantage of more than once. It was too late now, though, as her heartbeat started to race, and then, as if overloaded, stop.

He stood, wary, watching, as her eyes flicked open.

"Hello." Jasper said softly, not wanting to overwhelm her new ears. "How do you feel?"

* * *

The burning inferno in her body made Bella believe that her mother had been lucky. She couldn't help but flip through her memories of her mother, their small times together, and the times when she would have to half-parent Renee. That, of course, led to thoughts of her father. She wished she had spent more time with him, known him better, but they were so far apart and Renee, well...she struggled, feeling as though Bella was leaving her whenever she tried to spend the summer with Charlie.

Through the burning and the distraction, she made out the voice of someone, she thought maybe it was the man who had saved her from James. Even as the fire worsened in her limbs. It was hard to focus on anything but the burning, but it was nice not to feel alone, and the cadence of his voice, the accent, and the fact that he was _bothering._ Even when the burning made it so that she couldn't make out anything, she knew he was there.

Then the burning focused in her heart, more intense than anything she could imagine, and her heart stuttered to a stop with a great thud.

The lack of pain for a moment was shocking, and somehow she managed to open her eyes. Everything was sharp and clear, as if she had been seeing everything in black and white and just discovered colour.

"Hello," That voice said. "How do you feel?"

Bella got to her feet, blinking, fascinated by the dust motes and fragments of sand in the air. "It's...so much." She blinked, focusing on her saviour, blinking again at the sight of all the scars on his neck and face.

He seemed to know what she was looking at. "I won't hurt don't need to be scared of me because of the scars."

Bella tilted her head, wondering at him. "I know." She said, voice even. She understood what he was saying. "They don't scare me."

"They don't?" He asked, surprised.

Bella opened and closed her mouth, trying to figure out how to express what her instincts were telling her. "They say that you're strong...that you…" She trailed off, not to describe what her brain was saying. "That you can protect me?" It came out as a question. "I...I don't understand, but I know you're safe."

* * *

Jasper blinked, extremely confused. The instinctual reaction for every newborn, and hell, most older vampires, when they saw his scars, was to become frightened, or at least _uncomfortable_. He had never met anyone whose first reaction was that the scars actually made them _feel safe_. No one, in all his years as a vampire, had called him _safe_. Even Peter and Charlotte had a healthy semi-wary respect of his strength

"I'm Jasper." He said after a moment. "What's your name, darlin'?"

"Bella," she answered, and Jasper noted that the vampire hadn't made up a name.

"Did you know the man who attacked you, Bella?" Jasper asked, taking a few steps closer, amazed at her control. Her emotions were scattered, but not the mess that an average newborn was tangled in, he had no idea how she was doing it. She was amazing, to be able to hold a conversation.

He noted that she took a large gasp of air, and made fists. "His name is James...he was dating my…" She swallowed, venom filling her eyes. "Oh god, my mother…"

Jasper let out a hiss. "I'm sorry." He admitted. "She was already dead by the time I got there."

Bella shook her head again. "What did he do to me?"

Jasper hated this part. "He was a vampire, Bella, he injected his venom into your veins, and now, so are you."

"What?" Bella said, blinking her newly crimson eyes at him.

Jasper took another step closer, and took her hand, untangling her fist, and placing it on her chest, over her heart - which was no longer beating. "You're a vampire, Bella."

* * *

Renee was dead. Bella felt that fact bouncing around in her brain. She had known, fuzzily recalling the open, dead eyes of her mother on the alley floor.

Now this man, Jasper, was telling her she was a _vampire_? She knew he had a point, placing her hand on her chest, but was distracted by the feel of his hand, which felt more _real_ than what he was trying to tell her. It took her a moment, waiting to feel the familiar _thump thump_ of her heart. It didn't come.

Shakily she raised her other hand, and placed it on his chest. She stared at her hand on his chest, and then lifted her head to look in his golden eyes.

"Yes," Jasper admitted. "I'm a vampire too."

Bella knew that they needed to discuss this, that there were very important questions, buzzing around her mind, but when their eyes met, every other thought dissolved. "Mine?" She said, almost a question, and then, more firmly, a quick moment later. "Mine." A wave of possessiveness, protectiveness, and something she didn't want to name, or didn't know how to name flooded through her. This man, this vampire, was more than just her hero, he was in some elemental way, _hers_.

* * *

**_Sonuvabitch._**

Jasper had all but given up on the idea of finding his mate. It wasn't that he didn't want to find her. If anything, he wanted it desperately. It was the vicarious feeling of the mate bonds of those around him, though, that pushed him to wander. He could only be around the happily mated Cullen pairs or even Peter and Charlotte so long before the envy started to eat at him. The problem was, he often felt as though he didn't deserve his mate, not after all he had done in his unlife.

And yet, here she was, almost ridiculously young for his century plus of life, looking up at him, barely any concept of what he was, or what she had become. He knew if he was a good man, he would have realized it first, and prevented her from becoming tied to him. He, however, had neither realized it first, nor was he unselfish enough to be upset about it. Instead, he reached out and grabbed his chance at their happily ever after with both hands, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her closer. "Yes." He admitted, trying to keep the growl out of his voice. "And you're mine."

She laid her head on his scarred chest, and the Major in him was wishing he had put that bastard through a hell of a lot more pain for trying to harm his mate, and causing her grief by killing her mother. His quick death was too good for him. Well, now he knew, and if anyone threatened her again, he would end them with extreme prejudice.


	3. Chapter 3

Well, Jasper Whitlock was certain of one thing. His mate was a goddamn _miracle_. While he had accepted her the instant that he realized what they were to each other, he had dreaded the increased thirst and bouts of aggression and rage that came with newborns. It had been the thing he had least been looking forward to, as an empath, even _before_ he had known that they were mates. It had been years since he had been forced into controlling newborns, and he wasn't looking forward to revisiting that.

Except...Bella didn't need it. She was a little snappish, and prone to bouts of melancholy and self-loathing, but that had more to do with blaming herself for her mother's murder than anything else. She took to the animal diet with little issue. You could've pushed him over with a feather when his newborn mate _ran away_ from lost hikers in the gorge instead of running them down like a coyote with the scent of injured whitetail. It was as if fate knew how hard he struggled, and for once, had deigned to make it easier on him.

She was fascinating, in more ways than one. He could sit on his worn leather sofa, running his hands through her hair as they talked for ages. It was the kind of quiet life he had imagined, a bubble of emotions that could bleed away the darkness from his rough edges. About a month into her life, when her eyes were just starting to shift the slightest bit orange, he sighed, running his hands through her hair. "I should call Carlisle and let him know about you, Bellita." He murmured. "I'm going to need to go back to Forks next month, and I'm not going to leave you behind. We'll have to get your identity figured out."

Bella shifted, moving to sit up. "Forks, Washington?"

Jasper chuckled. "While there is Cut Knife, Saskatchewan, I doubt there's a second town out there named Forks. Why?"

Bella blew out a breath. "My father...he lives in Forks."

Well _fuck_, so much for fate making it easy on him. "He does?" Jasper asked. "And you live out here?"

"I only visit Charlie for one month during the summer." Bella explained. "Renee left him when I was two."

"Charlie," Jasper repeated, slowly, then paused, running through the people he knew in the small town. "Charlie Swan, the police chief?"

"Yeah." Bella said, wincing. "This is going to be a problem, isn't it?"

Jasper blew out an unused and unnecessary breath. "It certainly don't make this no easier, darlin'." He shook his head. "None of us have identities ready to move again. I need to call Carlisle…"

Bella frowned. "Can't we...work the truth?" She asked. "Sort of? We could say James killed Renee, and kidnapped me, and you rescued me when...he stopped for gas or something?"

Jasper frowned. "Your father's blood is going to be a lot more tempting than most, and I...I don't know about the two of us living separately." He felt an ache at the very suggestion.

"You could stay with me?" Bella suggested. "I'm traumatized, you're the only person I trust, because you saved me?"

Jasper groaned. "Maybe we can convince him it would be good for you to live with us." He muttered. "For you to have a doctor nearby." He didn't know how well he could keep up the human charade for that long of a time, or how to keep his newborn mate or himself from eating his police-chief father-in-law.

"Sorry." Bella said, looking away.

"Nothing you have to be sorry for." Jasper reassured her. "It's all just logistics, Bellita." He leaned over and kissed her gently. "You are perfect."

She blushed with what remained of her mortal blood, and Jasper grinned as he pulled out his phone.

* * *

Carlisle was in his office at the hospital when his phone rang, and he smiled to see the name. They had all missed Jasper. "Hello, Jasper." He greeted. "How's your vacation?"

"Carlisle, I have a problem." Came the answer.

Carlisle felt his heart sink. He had known it was risky for their newest vegetarian to go out on his own. "It's okay, Jasper. It's not your fault, you're still working on your bloodlust."

"I didn't bite anyone, Carlisle." Jasper said, sounding slightly annoyed. "I rescued a girl from a nomad, but she was bitten and her mother drained."

Carlisle paused. "I'm sorry, son." He admitted. "I shouldn't have assumed. It was good of you to save her. Is the newborn in the change?"

Jasper glanced over at Bella, who had moved over into his study. "Nah, she's raiding my bookshelf in her stockinged feet."

Bella peeked back out of the study to stick her tongue out at him.

Carlisle was startled, but smiled at the happiness in Jasper's voice. "Well, that's good, I suppose. What is she drinking?"

"Bobcats and a couple deer, so far." Jasper answered. "She's _amazing_, Carlisle. She _ran away_ from some human hikers in the gorge."

Carlisle was floored by that. "A newborn?" He repeated. "That's _unheard_ of, Jasper."

"I know." Jasper replied, his smile getting wider from the happiness and pride beaming from Bella that suffused his entire body. "You'll love her, Carlisle."

Carlisle had _never_ heard Jasper so happy, but it made him cautious. The treaty was tenuous and a newborn was a big risk, running from hikers or not. "You're planning on bringing her home with you?"

"She's my mate, Carlisle." Jasper replied, focusing on all the warm feelings. "If I come home, I'm bringing her with me."

Ah, that's what it was, Carlisle realized. "Of course we want you to come home, and want to meet your mate, Jasper." He said, immediately accepting it. He knew how lonely Jasper had been over the years, and was thrilled that the man had finally found someone. "We'll work it out."

"The problem is," Jasper admitted. "Her father is the police chief in Forks. She's been living in Arizona with her mother, who the nomad killed."

Carlisle was silent for a long moment. "You never can make things easy for yourself, can you, son?" He murmured. "What do you want to do?"

"Bella wants to come home." Jasper admitted. "Stick close to the truth, say I rescued her from James, and that she's traumatized and trusts me. I thought maybe Chief Swan would let her stay with us, if we convinced him that it would be a bad idea to separate us, and a good idea to have a doctor nearby. Maybe Esme and I could homeschool her through the rest of her newborn year, and arrange short visits with her father?"

"We can't have the police looking too closely at us, Jasper." Carlisle muttered. "This is very risky."

"The other option is that Bella and I stay out here, maybe connect back up with Peter and Charlotte until graduation in Forks, when you're ready to relocate again." Jasper said, frowning.

"No." Carlisle said immediately. "It's a bad idea to have a newborn who is doing so well exposed to Peter and Charlotte's diet." He tapped his pen on his old-fashioned pad. "You could head up to Denali."

"I'm not taking my _newborn mate_ up to Denali with a _brand new_ mating bond, to live around the Sisters." Jasper shot down immediately. "She'd rip Tanya to shreds."

"Who's Tanya?" Bella demanded, emerging from the study, book in hand.

"See?" Jasper added.

"I see your point." Carlisle admitted, wryly. Tanya always found unmated men interesting, especially when they had no interest in her. "Call Charlie, tell him to meet me at the airport. I'll call in a charter."

"Now?" Jasper asked, slightly alarmed at the idea of losing his private time with Bella already.

"This is very complicated, Jasper." Carlisle told him. "The longer we wait for her to be '_found,'_ the harder this will be to sell. I'll call Esme and update her after I get a charter booked.

Jasper growled slightly, but nodded. "Yessir."

"And Jasper?" Carlisle murmured into the phone. "I'm proud of you."

* * *

Bella flopped back onto the couch, sliding not-so-subtly into Jasper's lap for reassurance. "Who's Tanya?" she repeated, suspicious.

"Tanya's the leader of the coven in Alaska." Jasper explained, pulling her more securely into his lap, and taking a moment to press his lips to her neck in a comforting manner. "They're the only other coven that drinks animal blood over human, so our covens are close. Tanya finds any unmated male who rejects her advances fascinating."

"Oh." Bella said, quietly. She didn't have to ask if Tanya found Jasper _fascinating_. Tanya wasn't a _newborn_ either. She was starting to hate that term. It was sort of condescending. Insecurity welled up in her stomach. _Tanya_ probably didn't trip over herself or get her mother murdered…"

"Hey now, Bellita." Jasper growled, pulling her as close as he could, and holding her tight. "You are _everything_ I could want. Nothing ever happened between Tanya and I, and even if it had, she could never hope to compare to _you_."

Bella let out a sigh of relief, and snuggled closer. "I love you, Jasper."

"I love you too, Bella." Jasper answered, pressing another kiss to the top of her head.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie Swan had been awake for two days straight, with only a few hours of sleep caught, mostly when he passed out from exhaustion, like right now. Therefore, he could hardly be blamed when it took him a moment to realize his phone was ringing and to answer it.

"Chief Swan." He said, scrubbing his hand over his face, refusing to hope that it was good news.

"Chief Swan," An unfamiliar voice said. "I don't know if you remember me, my name's Jasper Hale, I'm one of the Cullens' adopted children…"

Charlie sucked a breath through his teeth. "Look Jasper, I'm out of town right now, on personal business. While I'm grateful to Dr. Cullen…"

"I found your daughter." The voice, Jasper, interrupted.

Charlie jumped, leaning forward, almost angrily. "If this is a prank, boy…"

"No sir." Jasper replied. "I found her at a gas station. She begged me for help. After we got back to where I'm staying and she calmed down enough, she gave me this number."

"Where are you?" Charlie demanded. "Is she alright?"

There was a pause. "Kenefick, Texas." He answered, rattling off the address. "And...she's traumatized, sir. Jumps at every little thing, seems well physically, though."

"How the hell'd she get to Texas?" Charlie demanded. "Can I speak to her?" At some point he had stood and was now pacing the small motel room.

"Yeah, of course, sir." The boy said, and there was a bit of shifting on the line, before he heard his daughter's voice.

"Charlie?" The voice that came over the line didn't sound exactly like Bella but he hadn't seen her in far too long, and she did tend to call him Charlie, though she sometimes caught herself. "Dad...I...he killed Mom. He…her _eyes _dad.." Now that, that convinced him, especially with the quaver in her voice.

"Who, Bells? Who killed your mother?" Charlie demanded.

"James. He was her boyfriend, he took us out to dinner, pulled in this alley. Said there was something wrong with the car…" There was a sob, and Charlie _knew_ in his bones that this _was_ his daughter.

"Bella, where you are, are you safe?" That was the most important thing.

"I think so." Bella's voice managed, shaky. "Jasper says James won't be able to find us here."

"Okay, Bells, take a deep breath." Charlie instructed. "I'm gonna call the police where you are."

"No!" Bella shrieked. "No-one else. Just you, Cha...dad. Please I...if he hears….he had a _radio_, dad."

"Bella, you were kidnapped, your mom was murdered, this is serious. We need to get you checked out." He heard a strange noise, and then the phone clattering to the floor.

"Bells? Bella? _Isabella!_" Charlie demanded, getting louder, not sure what he was hearing.

A moment later, the boy came back on. "She's freaking out, Chief Swan, I think she's having a panic attack. What do I do?"

Charlie ran a hand through his hair. "Call Dr. Cullen. I'm on my way."

* * *

Bella watched as Jasper called Carlisle back, and wandered over to the small bathroom, trying to decode her feelings. She hated lying to Charlie, but she couldn't tell him the truth, and she definitely didn't want to be interrogated and interviewed over and over. She didn't want to relive those moments, or remember the sight of Renee's broken body. She knew she had to, but it all made the guilt and fear come back. She was almost glad she couldn't dream, because she suspected that if she could have, she would have had nightmares of what might have happened if Jasper hadn't saved her. Venom filled her eyes, and she looked away from the mirror. What was she even doing? Was it betraying Renee to want to spend more time with Charlie? Renee who had counted on her, and who ended up dead because…

She shook herself, trying to pull herself together. She ran some water and splashed her cold face, despite knowing that she could shed no tears. She blinked hard, forcing air in and out of her lungs, despite not needing it. Vaguely, she was aware that while Jasper was not using his power to manipulate or dampen her emotions, she _was_ wrapped in a feeling of...togetherness? Or at least not being alone? It was kind, and she pushed a burst of affection at him, even as she sat on the floor for a few minutes more to come to terms with what would happen.

* * *

Jasper knew that for all their time in the bubble, and the distraction of her new vampire state, that Bella needed time to mourn and to prepare herself for seeing her father. He checked in, updating Carlisle, who was abashed that he hadn't considered that Chief Swan would have already been in Arizona, which was a lot closer to Texas than he was. Carlisle announced he would be there in about five hours, maybe a little less. Then, knowing Chief Swan would be there in two hours or less, he tried to make sure there was nothing suspicious around the place.

He gave his mate a wan smile as she emerged from the bathroom an hour later. "Are you ready for this, Bellita?"

Bella shook her head a bit, holding up a contact case. "I'm not putting them in until the last second."

"Good idea, darlin'." Jasper agreed with a wry attempt at a smile. "No matter what happens, I'll be here."

Bella didn't smile, too tense about the situation and all the changes, but he could feel the gratitude she threw at him. "Am I going to eat him?"

Jasper couldn't see the future like Alice, but he tried to exude confidence. "No, Bella, it'll be fine. I won't let you. If you need me to, I will stop you."

"Thank you." Bella whispered, so low that if he hadn't been a vampire he wouldn't have heard it.

"You need this, Bellita." Jasper whispered back. "And I will do my damnedest to make whatever you need to happen, happen."

* * *

If he had come down here for any other reason, Charlie might have liked the place that the address led him too. It was near a large wildlife preserve, and it seemed like the kind of place one could sit back, find a watering hole, and live your life. He wasn't here for any other reason, though, and the strain of identifying the body of his ex-wife and searching for his missing daughter made everything seem more threatening. He kept one hand on his gun as he knocked on the door.

The door opened and sure enough, there was one of the Cullen kids. If he was honest, Charlie didn't know the family well enough to tell the teens apart. "Jasper?" He said, half in question.

"Come on in, Chief Swan." Jasper said, stepping back and allowing him entrance into the small ranch-style house. "Bella will be out in a minute, she...needed a second."

Charlie's guard didn't disappear, and he did his best to take in the room in which he found himself. There didn't seem to be any threats, at least. "What happened, Mr. Cullen?"

"Carlisle let me come back to Texas to see if I could track down any of my father's relations over the summer." Jasper explained. "I stopped to fill up my truck at a gas station outside of El Paso. This guy was there, and after he filled up, he went into the place to pay. I had my card, and was finishing up, when Bella got out of this beat-up car and said that the man had made her go with him. She pleaded with me to get her out, and well, I never could let someone in need of help like that." Jasper shrugged. "I told her to get in and we started driving. She was so shaken, it wasn't til we were past San Antonio I got more than the bare bones of it out of her."

Charlie didn't know what to say. Gratitude and anger warred inside of him. Glad that someone had helped his daughter when she was desperate, but it had been over a month now! Why wait so long? "Why did you wait so long to call?"

"Bella." Jasper replied, easily. "I wouldn't have known who to call until she gave me your number, and it's taken this long for her to be ready to tell me more and to let me call." He looked torn. "I know you probably think it a poor excuse, sir, but she's fragile and I was afraid of hurting her worse." He paused, admitting, "She's amazing, sir, and I promised her I would do anything I could to help her."

Charlie was beginning to dread what kind of daughter he would find when she emerged.

* * *

Bella knew the instant Charlie had entered the home, and it tangled her up. She had used the last hour to quickly hunt and drain a bear, but when her father's scent reached her, it was like the hikers, but worse. The guilt speared through her, and mentally she replaced the haunting image of her mother in the alley with her father, and she...she was the monster.

She felt the pulse of affection and comfort come from Jasper, and while it dulled that guilt, it made her feel worse for her caution toward him. Jasper was _hers_, but the fear from James was too new. Jasper never complained, but Bella worried. She heard his words praising her, but still worried. A month alone with him had ground on _her_ instincts, pushing her to go further, and yet she was the one stopping everything.

Taking a moment, she pulled herself together as well as she could and pushed the door to the bedroom open. She walked out, her eyes fixed, holding her breath as much as possible. "Dad?" She said, keeping her words as short as possible to avoid using as much air as possible.

"Bells," Charlie answered, staring at his daughter, who looked so different than the child he had known. "Are you...how are you?" He took a step forward.

Bella took another step forward as well, her movement stilted. "He killed mom." She managed, her resolve breaking. "He said he was dating her to get to me…" She let out a dry sob.

Charlie took another step forward. "We'll find him, Bells. He'll pay for what he did to you and your mother." He closed the distance, reaching out for his daughter.

"You're going to get hurt." But Bella had used up the air she had taken in from the other room, and the burning thirst appeared in her throat, worse than it had been since her entire body had been burning. Her eyes went wide as the hunger got to her. She made a wheezing noise, throwing up her hands, suddenly taking gasping breaths, trying to get more of that scent into her lungs..

As she bent her knees, before she could lunge, Jasper was in front of her, holding her right, pressing her head into his wide chest. "Focus on me." He hissed vampire-soft under his breath. "Focus on me, Bella." Bella took a deep breath, allowing the smell of thunderstorms, smoke, and citrus that was _Jasper_ to make the burning thirst abate, though another hunger started licking at her skin.

"You're okay," Bella." He crooned softly, "Everything's fine. James isn't going to find us. We're all going to be fine. Chief Swan is going to be fine."

Bella took another deep breath, pushing the hunger down.

"Why don't we sit?" Jasper suggested, leading her over to the couch, though Bella caught his gesture towards Charlie and the other chair. She blew out a little more air. He really wouldn't let her hurt anyone. She'd feel grateful if she wasn't wired so tightly.


	5. Chapter 5

Jasper had known this was a bad idea. He hated himself a little for putting Bella through this, and why? Because Carlisle worried about what Bella would see in a normal vampire diet? Because he was afraid Jasper would 'slip,' again? That was part of it, of course, but another part of it was for Bella. He could _tell_ how adrift she felt, could feel all her mixed up feelings about her family, and how much she wanted a chance with her father, especially since she had lost her mother. It was monumentally stupid, but he found the idea of the pain she would feel if she never got any more time with the police chief would cause, so he would do whatever he could to prevent it, including invite the man into his home and keep Bella from draining him dry. No matter what it took, he'd do his best to make Bella happy, even if it wasn't the best idea.

So he sat beside her, not quite touching, but there if she needed him again, and she probably would, as she faced her father and told an edited version of her tale. His gift would be pushed to the limit keeping everyone's emotions stable.

* * *

Charlie Swan was a small-town cop. They didn't have the crime in Forks that they had in Phoenix, or even Seattle, but there were things that every cop saw eventually. He had been called to more domestic disputes than he could count, he had seen abused children more than anyone should, and he had seen a few sexual assaults in his time. Seeing the kind of reactions from his _daughter_ that he saw in those people that called for his help broke something inside of him more than seeing his ex-wife's body had. _He _was her father. It should be _him_ that Bella turned to when injured. His few steps toward her shouldn't have set her off, and she shouldn't be turning to a kid that she had never met before for comfort instead of him, but he hadn't been there, and he had seen trauma bond people in stranger situations before this.

So he listened to the stilted tale, trying his damnedest not to react as Bella told him the story of the way Phil Dwyer had disappeared from Renee's life, and then the appearance of James Andreas, who had done his level best to sweep Renee off of her feet. He found himself wishing that they had been closer, so that when Bella admitted that the strange man '_creeped her out,_' she would have called him. Charlie took it as his punishment for not pushing to spend more time with Bella, to listen to when she got to the point where James had killed Renee, thrown her into a wall, and she woke up in the man's car.

By the time she was finished, Charlie knew that when he found that man he would kill him...and that he would always be grateful to the coincidence that led Jasper Hale to be in the right place at the right time to rescue his daughter before anything else had happened.

* * *

Retelling the story, the true parts and the necessary fabrications took it out of Bella more than she expected, and the venom buildup in her eyes made her need to change her contacts soon. "I need a minute." She managed, before heading for the bathroom. She switched out her contacts quickly, and balanced on the sink, dealing with everything all over again.

Why had she wanted this? She had gotten her mother killed. She was going to kill her father, or get him killed. She started to feel panic again, when she felt a wave of calm wash over her, wrapped in the feeling of an embrace, forcing another breath, she tried to center herself again.

She could do this. She _would _do this. Jasper would help her. She just had to get it together. She sat on the floor and reached for the towels, practicing rhythmically folding them. It had been one of her first training exercises, folding the towels without ripping them, and it was a reminder that she was strong.

* * *

The silence that fell across the room was awkward to say the least. Jasper was feeling the strain of all the emotions, and trying to keep the situation calm without flat out changing any of them.

"What's she doing in there?" Charlie muttered, after about forty-five minutes had gone by.

"Probably folding towels." Jasper answered, knowing for a fact that was what she was doing, because he could hear it. "It's been a coping thing for her."

Charlie grunted, and then looked back at the young man. "How bad was it?" He asked.

"She didn't talk for the first three days after we got here." Jasper improvised, staying as close to the truth as possible. "She slept most of the time, though she had some nightmares. After that, I managed to get some liquids into her, and she's working on keeping down soups." He ran a hand through his hair. "We've been talking more, I've been telling her more about my life, so she'd feel comfortable talking to me. When I mentioned the move to Forks, she told me she was born there, and well…" He gestured to Charlie. "After another day or so, she felt comfortable enough to let me call you."

"Why didn't you contact the police?" Charlie demanded.

Jasper latched on to the story of Carlisle and Esme fostering and adopting their strange family, and the back paperwork he and Jenks had created. "Rose and I were in the system, before Carlisle found us and took us in, Chief Swan. I've seen things. I didn't know what exactly happened to Bella, and I didn't know what the legal system would do. I couldn't send her back to a place like that, sir. I couldn't risk it until I knew what was happening, and even then...you heard how Bella panicked."

Charlie watched him with an interrogators eyes for a long moment, police officer warring with loving father. "Thank you for looking out for her, Jasper."

Jasper nodded slowly. "I did it for Bella, she's...special."

* * *

Bella emerged from the bathroom, feeling _calmer,_ if not completely calm. She made her way back over to the sofa, and say down gingerly, trying to make sure she didn't break it in her haste. "What happens now?"

Charlie took a deep breath. "Well, Jasper's called Dr. Cullen, so he's going to come and take a look at you, and then we'll have to contact the police and let them know that you've been found. I won't lie, Bells, you're going to have to tell it a few more times…" He broke off with a wince as Bella let out a sob, and buried her head into the boy. Jasper put an arm around her and Charlie felt a pang of jealousy. It should have been _him_ she turned to for comfort, but instead he was the bearer of bad news, and the specter of police invading what was obviously beyond traumatic.

"Can't you do it?" Bella begged. "Please, Dad, you're a cop. Can't you do it? I've told you everything. I...I don't want to...I don't think I _can _tell it again."

"Bella, right now, I'm your father and not a cop." Charlie said, honestly. "It's a huge conflict of interest, and what's more, if I _was_ acting as a cop, there would have been lights and sirens and three or more cars showing up here as we searched the place." He got up from his chair and moved to his daughter's other side, pulling her into his arms as much as she could, startled at how cold she was, and immediately began worrying that she was going into shock. "Bells, I promise you, I will walk you into the Phoenix station myself, and I won't leave your side. _That man_ will never get near you again."

Bella clutched at Jasper's shirt, shaking despite her new preternatural state. "Can Jasper come too?" She whispered. She didn't know how she could possibly get through all of this again, surrounded by who knew how many people, without Jasper to ground her.

Charlie's lips thinned. "You'll have to talk to at least some of the investigators without him, but he can come to the station with us, and sit outside waiting for you. He'll be right there when you're done."

Bella let out a high sound despite herself, and Jasper knew he'd have bruises later, but she nodded anyway. "Later." She said, taking a deep breath. "Right?"

"Right." Jasper agreed. "Carlisle is on his way." He reassured her. "He's the best, I promise you, and then we'll go together, okay?"

"Okay." Bella whispered, wishing she had made a different decision, but then Charlie reached for her hand and squeezed it, and she felt another burst of affection for her father. It would be worth it. She would make it through. She _had_ to make it. She had lost her mother. She _would_ keep her father.


End file.
